Disposable absorbent articles such as disposable diapers, incontinence pads, training pants, and catamenial napkins generally include an absorbent core for receiving and holding bodily exudates. In everyday use, a disposable diaper may be worn until the absorbent core is saturated with bodily exudates. Once the core is saturated, the disposable diaper can be removed from the wearer, disposed of, and replaced with a fresh diaper. Advances in manufacturing techniques and the application of new materials have allowed the development of disposable diapers with increased absorbency and comfort for the wearer. As such, some disposable diapers are provided with absorbent cores capable of receiving and holding more bodily exudates than previously possible.
In recent years, disposable training diapers or pants have increased in popularity. Such training diapers may be configured to resemble typical underpants. These training diapers may be configured with an absorbent core adapted to absorb urine and other bodily exudates. These types of diapers can be useful in the toilet training process by helping a child to transition from diapers to underpants. More particularly, these diapers allow a child to become accustomed to wearing underpants while at the same time providing the ability to absorb bodily exudates during the toilet training process. However, a wearer of such a training diaper may not be aware that urination is occurring, because the absorbent core may act to hold and store bodily exudates away from the wearer's skin. Thus, some training diapers have been configured to provide an indication of wetness to wearer. These types of training diapers may be adapted to provide an indication to the wearer that urination has occurred by not removing and holding moisture away from the wearer's skin.
Although some training diapers provide certain advantages by providing an indication of wetness, there are some disadvantages associated with such diapers. For example, there may be occasions when it is not desirable to provide a wetness indication, such as during a child's designated sleep times. In one scenario, a child wearing a training diaper with a wetness indicator during a short nap or during overnight sleep may be awakened after urination due to the feeling of wetness in the diaper. As such, before a child goes to sleep, it may be desirable to replace training diapers that have a wetness indicator with a training pant or other diaper that do not have a wetness indicator. However, such a diaper replacement may be inconvenient, especially if the child has a tendency to fall asleep quickly before the diaper replacement can be conducted. In addition, training diapers may require frequent replacement due to saturation with bodily exudates. If not changed, some training diapers may be prone to leakage. In these scenarios, multiple diaper changes can become inconvenient for the caregiver and child alike.